Page 13 of Fake Dating My Best Friend

“Hey.” Elaine slams her hand on the table, making our water glasses jump. “Your mom taught you that love is beautiful and worth fighting for. And you’ve helped so many people find it.” Her voice carries the same passionate conviction she uses when defending her secret cookie recipes.

“Ironically,” I mumble, poking at my mac and cheese, “I think I’m the one person who isn’t destined to be loved.”

Elaine and Roxanne exchange a look, and I brace myself for the pity party.

Instead, Roxanne calmly slices a chunk of pot roast and plops it onto my plate. “You sure about that? Because a certain gym owner seems pretty devoted to you.”

“Who?”

Someone’s face immediately crashes into my mind like a pop-up ad I didn’t ask for. My pulse trips over itself.

“Asher!” Elaine and Roxanne chorus together. Elaine shoots a smug grin and high-fives Roxanne across the table.

“Come on, we’re just friends.” I shove a forkful of cheesy mac into my mouth to muffle the heat that is now blooming in my cheeks.

Elaine saws off a chunk of her turkey club and holds it out to me. “Here, sweetie. You clearly need protein if you’re going to keep lying to yourself like that.”

“I’m serious. Asher and I have known each other forever. He doesn’t see me that way.”

“Uh-huh,” Roxanne says. “Is that why he brings you your weird lavender-chamomile tea every morning? With exactly three drops of honey?”

“That’s just being neighborly.”

Elaine snorts. “Right. And I suppose it was also just beingneighborlywhen he built you that floor-to-ceiling bookshelf in your apartment? The one that matches the library scene from Beauty and the Beast you’ve been obsessing over since we were kids?”

Asher somehow remembered that throwaway comment I made about wanting my own home library. He surprised me with it after I moved into the apartment and stocked the bottom shelf with all the books from my TBR list.

The sticky note he’d left still makes me flutter.Every Beauty needs her library. Even if the Beast is your best friend.

See? Just friends. That’s what we are. That’s all we’ll ever be. And I need to stop my stupid heart from reading more into friendly gestures just because I had some silly secret teenage crush.

“Please. Asher is the perfect friend. And any smart person knows not to date their best friend. Remember the friendship pact?”

Elaine rolls her eyes. “Oh, please, don’t bring up that pact again. I’m so over it.”

Okay, yes.Iinvented the rule after watching my cousin’s friendship-turned-romance crash and burn in the most dramatic way possible. But Asher never challenged it. Never even hinted at wanting to.

If he felt anything more, he’d have said something by now, right?

Clearly, he doesn’t see me that way.

“Anyway, Asher semi-rejected me years ago,” I mumble. “I’m not exactly eager to embarrass myself again.”

And I’m sure Asher deserves someone who has their life together. Someone who isn’t a walking disaster with a failing business. Someone who’s actually worthy of love.

“Wait, what? When did this happen?” Elaine’s fork clatters against her plate.

“How have we never heard about this?” Roxanne leans forward.

“It was a long time ago. College years. It’snotimportant.”

Not important. But it still stings a little.

“If that’s the case,” Elaine says, a serious look replacing her teasing smile, and I can’t tell if she’s actually being thoughtful or just building up to another one of her outrageous theories, “have you ever wondered why he’s always single?”

I nearly choke on my water. “What?”

Roxanne nods. “Yeah, he’s practically the dream guy. Smart, kind, and I heard his abs—”

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